2012 PhD Student Position in Social and Behavioural Sciences at University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

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The PhD candidates will participate in a five-year comparative research project which will undertake a transnational, multi-sited ethnographic study of moral and political subjectivity in human rights-based HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs (the PhD positions are four year contracts). This project will take a critical approach to the social and political uses of human rights discourse and seeks candidates who are well acquainted with critical inquiries into moral and political discourses and practices. In particular the following questions will be addressed from the perspective of an anthropology of moralities: Are there more distal, non-health related consequences of the therapeutic practices of such programs that inadvertently shape the political and moral subjectivities of participants? If so, are they related to the particular combination of moral discourses (e.g., human rights, personal responsibility, and local) underlying the therapeutic approach? How are any such consequences experienced by participants and how have they altered their everyday social and political interactions in their networks and communities? In addressing these questions one of the PhD candidates will research such programs in South Africa and the other candidate will do research in Indonesia. Applicants should apply for a position focusing on only one of these two countries. A significant part of this project will consist of on-site, long-term ethnographic research.

We are looking for candidates with the following credentials: -Completed Master’s degree in Anthropology or related discipline; -candidates with a Master’s degree in Philosophy, who have strong and demonstrable social scientific interests, are also encouraged to apply; -familiarity with qualitative research methods; research experience and language competency suitable to either South Africa or Indonesia depending on research site will be considered an advantage.